


Christmas This Next Year Will Be Fine

by Solariis



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Drabble, Family Bonding, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, No Plot/Plotless, One Shot, Other, Reader-Insert, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Ugly Holiday Sweaters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:35:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28321731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solariis/pseuds/Solariis
Summary: The holidays bring so many different things with it. For you, it brings meeting the last three members of your boyfriends' family, and finding out what a Hargreeves' Christmas is really like.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy)/Reader
Kudos: 41





	Christmas This Next Year Will Be Fine

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
> 
> We can't all spend Christmas with our families this year, and I'm part of those who can't, so I wanted to write about a cozy, love filled, warm time with my favorite fictional family.
> 
> Just a one-shot drabble with no real purpose, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.
> 
> ☂️

“Are you ready?”  
  
You don't have time to reply, because he's already ringing the doorbell. You've been to the academy a few times before, but only ever in the foyer and the main formal living room. Usually when you're spending time with Five outside of work, he comes over to your apartment—you hate when he blinks in, scaring the shit out of you—and you hang out there instead. But now you're coming over to the Umbrella Academy as Five's partner for Christmas. There's something different about coming over on a late night Tuesday, and coming over on a holiday where his family is specifically gathering together for quality time. There's some you haven't met yet, either, and that's making you kind of nervous.  
  
The door opens, and you recognize Klaus right away, even underneath the Santa hat and beard he has on.  
  
“Heyy!” he pulls only you into a hug, because Five skillfully ducks underneath it and moves into the house.  
  
You just laugh and return the gesture, enjoying the warmth he puts off like an oven. When he lets go, and you shuffle inside, you're hit in the face with a cacophony of smells, and though you can't discern one from the other, it smells like Christmas. You assume Grace is whipping up something fantastic in the kitchen, and there's tons of candles lit all around the house. As you're knocking the snow off of your boots onto the rug, you can't help but notice that the family went _off_ on the decorations, every pillar, banister—hell, every available surface—is covered and wrapped in Christmas décor. The way the garland and glitter reflects off the overhead chandelier is honestly breathtaking, leaving the home looking like a magazine cover. Five reaches up and pulls your coat off of you, hanging it up in a closet nearby the front door, and you smile at him being so courteous with you.  
  
“The party is in here, but if you wanna try and steal a cookie from mom first, you can do that, too,” Klaus says as he saunters in the living area.  
  
Five sincerely seems to debate whether he wants to, before turning to go into the living room, so you just smile and follow him. When you enter, you're bombarded with the sight of the biggest damn Christmas tree you've ever seen. It crosses up into the second floor past the banisters before finally just barely grazing the roof, where a bright glittering star sits. The entire thing is decorated up to the halfway point where it can naturally be reached from the second floor railings while the rest is laid bare, but you can see boxes of ornaments and garland up top and a woman is standing there, gathering some into her hands and her arms.  
  
“Be careful!” says Luther from the bottom floor, calling out to the woman.  
  
The rest of the living room has tons of pillows, throw blankets, candles and little nick-knacks all themed for the holiday. You suddenly feel like you're on HGTV, and you're almost afraid to touch anything. Klaus is sitting down by the copious amounts of presents on the floor, arranging them to look just right underneath the tree, a candy cane now sticking out of his mouth. There's a man lounging on one of the sofas with a book in hand and an ugly bright green sweater on, he looks up at you when you enter and a warm smile comes over his face.  
  
“Is Vanya going to fly up there and decorate the tree?” Five asks, pointing up to the woman on the second floor.  
  
“She's sure gonna try,” Luther says, setting his hands on his hips and looking a bit uncomfortable with the notion.  
  
So that's Vanya, you haven't met her yet, she's so busy with her music career, and she's one of three who don't still live in the academy. You try not to react to the fact that Five said 'fly' and keep your awe at their powers under lock. The man rolls off the couch and stands up, closing his book as he comes over to you.  
  
“Hey there,” he says, and holds a hand out for you to take, “looks like we're both dressed up today.”  
  
You smile and tug at the bottom of your bright blue Christmas sweater, “great minds think alike!”  
  
Ben's sweater is just a giant, fuzzy Grinch face, completely with glitter for the yellow of his eyes and fur on the arms. Yours has the Winking-Face-with-Tongue emoji on the top, a caption saying 'I'VE BEEN NAUGHTY!' on the front, and the Weary emoji on the bottom. Five absolutely despised it when he saw you, so you're glad the effect you were going for is there. There's a rustle above and the tree wobbles, when everyone looks up to the top, Vanya is holding onto the branches and barely missing grabbing a box of candy canes she seems to have dropped. You're taken from the jaw dropping visual of her floating in midair to watch as Luther makes a dive to catch the box before it lands on Klaus' head, whom of which was shouting and cowering.  
  
“Sorry!” she says, before getting right back to work and wrapping a garland around the top.  
  
Five just shakes his head and moves to the center coffee table where a large silver tray sits with mugs of picturesque hot-cocoa resting and steaming. He grabs two and hands one over to you before taking a long drink of his, his shoulders relaxing. You smile and look down at the mug that has whipped cream and cinnamon sprinkled on top, taking a drink yourself. It's delicious, almost too much so, and you can't help but take a big gulp, the warmth running down your chest and settling in your belly. When you sigh blissfully after you're over, licking your lips of the cocoa, Five chuckles from your side.  
  
“What?”  
  
“Nothing,” he says, reaching up and wiping a dollop of whipped cream off your nose. You wrinkle your nose and a giggle escapes you at the thought of how funny you must have looked.  
  
“Gross,” Ben says as he watches you two and Five rolls his eyes. Your giggle then turns into an open laugh and Ben smiles at his ability to get you to do that.  
  
The front door opens and closes behind you, the sounds of someone running draws closer until a little girl is sprinting through the living room, crashing right into Five. He startles and does his best not to drop his cup or spill any on her, a big smile coming over his face.  
  
“Claire!”  
  
“Uncle Five!”  
  
He reaches over and sets his cup back down before wrapping the girl up in a hug, leaning back, so he lifts her feet off the floor, and she kicks them in excitement. You know how much Five loves his niece and the sight of them together warms your chest more than the cocoa in your arms. Though, if she's here, then Allison must be as well, and you turn around to see said woman stepping in, looking as beautiful as she does in the magazines. Allison is also someone you've never met before, because she's so incredibly busy, possibly the most busy person you've ever met aside from Five. You've heard all kinds of stories, of course, and you know all about Claire from Five, but it's nice to put faces to the stories. He pulls out of the hug and asks her about her day, to which she eagerly begins to explain even as she rushes to give Ben a hug as well. Ben picks her up and holds her on his hip as she uses her hands to explain all the activities they did at school the other day.  
  
Allison makes her way right to you, a dazzling smile on her face, “Glad you could make it, it's great to finally meet you,” she says as she pulls off her designer gloves, and you notice her gorgeous red manicure.  
  
“Same here, thanks for inviting me,” you play with the cup in your hands.  
  
“Please, you're family,” she says, before Claire is trying to get her attention.  
  
“Mom, look!” she says, pointing up to Vanya who has now switched to adding the ornaments, “Auntie Vanya is making the tree so pretty!”  
  
“It really is. You wanna see if she'll let you put some up, too?”  
  
“Yes, yes!” she says, as she jumps from Ben's arms and starts to make her way up the stairs.  
  
“Claire, hold on!” Allison says, huffing, “sorry, I'll introduce you later,” she says to you before rushing after her child.  
  
You just snort and can't even imagine what it must be like to be a little kid with a bunch of super-powered aunts and uncles. Her attention is going to be flying all over the place all day. You turn your attention back to Five, of whom is now finishing off his cocoa and licking the remnants of whipped cream from the cup.  
  
“You know,” he begins, “if there's anything that this young body has given me, it's the energy to keep up with my niece.”  
  
“And the cutest face that's ever existed,” you say, poking at his dimples, and he smacks your hand away with a crinkle to his nose.  
  
“Don't touch me,” he mutters, but you don't miss the humor in his eyes, “I'm assuming Diego is with mom?”  
  
“You'd assume right,” says Ben, picking his book back up from the couch, “they're making cookies and god knows what else.”  
  
Five taps your arm and nods his head to the side to get you to follow him, walking back out of the living room. You drink the last of your cocoa and set your cup down before following after him, crossing the foyer and down a hall before making it into the kitchen. You honestly got a bit lost in just a few turns, so you decide to always let Five guide you through the massive mansion. You instantly smell the sugar and gingerbread in the air as you step inside the room, soft music playing from a speaker somewhere. Grace is rolling some dough on the counter and Diego is standing off to the side of the sink, whisking a bowl of chocolate batter. Underneath the sugary smell of sweets is a savory glaze coming from the oven where the turkey sits, among other dishes being slow cooked for the night. Grace looks incredible with a bright red dress on and a pair of red antlers on a green headband, her makeup matching the look. Diego has his own pair of antlers on, but is dressed significantly more casual except for a dark green chunky-knitted sweater.  
  
“Hey mom,” Five says, setting his hand down on the counter, “Diego. This is y/n.”  
  
They look up together and Grace smiles when she sees you, Diego setting his bowl down.  
  
“My bad,” he says as he washes his hands before coming over to shake yours, eyeing you up and down, “Nice to finally meet the person who managed to make my brother settle down.”  
  
“Really?” says Five.  
  
“Really,” replies Diego.  
  
You roll your eyes and lean against the counter, “It wasn't so hard. He's a softie.”  
  
“Excuse me?”  
  
Diego laughs at Five's expense and Grace even hides a giggle of her own. From there on, you're so much more relaxed and warmed inside the home. You decide to help the two of them with the baking as Five moves back into the living room with his other siblings. Now and then you have to fight Klaus or Luther from coming into the kitchen to steal a taste of some food or chocolate, and at one point, Grace is chasing Five with a spoon because he blinked in and stole a cookie right in front of her. Vanya comes down from the tree with it finally decorated, and you get to meet her as well, just as kind and open as the rest of the family.  
  
“This might sound weird,” she says as you're washing your hands, “but thanks... you know, for loving my brother.”  
  
You're caught off guard, looking over at her as you turn the tap off. She smiles and shakes her head, elaborating, “I mean, we all love him of course, but ever since he met you he's just been... so much more relaxed, and happy. You mean a lot to him and I guess I'm just glad that I can finally meet the person that changed him for the better.”  
  
You weren't expecting to get emotional today, but you can't help the lump that forms in your throat as you hear that. She apologizes, seeing the effect she had on you, and pats your back with a laugh. You laugh at yourself as well and bump her with your shoulder, turning around and drying your hands off on her sweater. She gasps, offended, and dips her hand in the remaining water at the bottom of the sink and sprinkles it on your face. Before it can turn into a war, Grace shoos you both out of the kitchen, so she can finish. When you question why Diego gets to stay, Vanya mutters to you about him being a huge mamas-boy, and you snort. A fire has been started in the fireplace, and you see Five is tacking on another stocking, one with your name on the top. He mentions that he asked his mom to make one for you specifically, and you blush at the thought.  
  
When everything is in the oven and taking its sweet time, Grace and Diego finally join all of you in the living room. Everyone is so eager to tell you stories and events about the family, talking over one another to get 'the truth' out. Luther gets up and puts on a lovely record in the background the echos throughout the house, and the colder it gets outside, the warmer it feels surrounded by the tree with The Hargreeves. Eventually it's time for everyone to open presents, and Klaus rushes to rip his open the fastest. Pogo comes around to join for the events, and it's great to get to see him finally relaxing with the family. Everyone gets a matching sweater with their numbers sewn into the front, and their names on the back, made by Grace herself. Personalized gifts were handed out, some of which you don't know the meaning behind of, and others that are funny but obvious—like Vanya buying Five a keurig. When dinner comes, you help Grace and Pogo set up the entire table for everybody and smile at the grand display of food.  
  
Dinner is loud, like a middle-school cafeteria, but is so cozy and heartwarming at the same time. It's just full of people who care about one another, sharing moments and memories. You get to make these memories with them, laughing until your stomach hurts and getting into heated debates over whether cereal is considered soup or not. Your mouth full of rich, incredible food and your heart bursting with joy and love. It's surprising how a bunch of crazy wannabe heroes can make you feel so loved and cherished. Five holds your hand under the table once the food is done and everyone is still sat, talking, yelling and laughing. His calloused fingers rub circles in the back of your hand and the smile never leaves his face, even after you give his cheek a kiss in front of his family, he just grins up at you and squeezes your hand tighter. After everyone helps clean up, and you migrate to the living room once more, it's a much more mellowed atmosphere in the house. Allison, Klaus and Five are in the yard with Claire, making snowmen and having snowball fights while you lounge on the couch and listen to Ben read from his book.  
  
Luther has your feet in his lap and is sipping away at some more cocoa and Vanya is playing her violin, sat on a stool by the bar while Grace sits next to her, swaying with the beautiful music. Diego comes and sets a plate of cookies on your lap at some point and mutters a merry Christmas under his breath as he sits on another chair and watches the fire, stuffing his face with gingerbread men. As the sun sets, everyone is warm and full, some people are falling asleep while others are cleaning up, you feel a tightness in your chest. It's almost too good to be true, hearing the fire crackle and smelling mint and chocolate in the air, the faint hushed laughter somewhere off in another room. The warmth of Five underneath you as you rest your head on his chest, cuddling on the couch under a blanket since everyone left the room. You feel him kiss the top of your head, and you can't help but bury your face into his sweater, taking in the smell of cologne he put on earlier this morning.  
  
You decide you want to spend every Christmas, just like this.


End file.
